On Sunday my pastor took on a very difficult topic that is rarely addressed to a congregation on a Sunday morning. Pastor Hector provided specifics and talked about the reality of why people are broken, how they find healing and how the determine if they need more healing.

It was so good.

I thought I would share some of my notes with all of you.

First the most important truth every person needs to know is this: Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted. 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Luke 4:18-19

So let's first discuss what is broken? Well the Hebrew word broken is Shabar. It means to shatter. Like a glass dropped upon a tile floor. A heart can be shattered in so many ways. But what is crucial is knowing what happens is that we actually have a breaking of our soul. The soul realm of an individual is their emotions, their will, their mind and this is the realm that the demonic can occupy. 

This is why I preach so much about taking thoughts captive. It's our thought-life that the demonic works to influence. It's int he soul that the enemy preaches lies that corrupt our identity and God's identity. The lies keep us in bondage and in broken pain. 

The demonic gains legal rights and will continually reenforce the core lies and erroneous belief systems we hold. The keeps us in pain and unhealed. These wounds can then carry forward to the next generation. Eventually becoming generational curses.

BUT, Jesu came to see the captives free. He came to heal the Shabar and to set us from the pain of our past. However, we also have a significant part to play in this process. And in future posts we will talk about some of the steps of healing.

Today, let's look at three signs we are moving toward healing. 

1. Awareness
2. Prayer
3. Wise counsel

If you have become aware of brokenness, issues and have prayed and asked for healing, that's the first steps of healing. And for some, this is all a person may require. But if you are like 99% of the human race, you need more. And we will discuss this in future posts.

Next week we will look at seven signs you need more healing. 

So, where do you see yourself in your healing journey? How can I pray for you? See you in the comments. 

You are deeply loved, Lynn Donovan

*Pastor Hector Gutierrez

From the authors: Ann Maria Mora and Lynn Donovan and their book, My Child Sees Monsters - Simple Steps to Send Them Away.

This video is SO GOOD: 

This teaching was from September 2022. I discuss the lies the church believes about hell, satan, demons and more. And the truths that set us free:

Get your paper, pen and Bible ready: 

Share your thoughts in the comments. I will answer questions there. Hugs, Lynn

Image credit testimoniesofhisgoodness.wordpress.com

Jeanne here.  Last June (2021) I had a strong leading from Holy Spirit to learn what it means to be seated with Christ in the heavenly places.  Over the course of the next 7 months, the topic was brought to my mind many, many times.  But I never sat down and studied it out.

God (in his mercy) did not wait until I got around to studying it.  After work last night, I was making supper (tater tot hotdish – shout-out to my Minnesota readers!) Pandora was playing a contemporary Christian song that I’ve heard dozens of times before.  Suddenly I was struck with powerful revelation… it’s hard to put the experience into words. I stood in my kitchen weeping, and when I had pulled myself together, I grabbed the nearest piece of paper – a grocery list – and wrote down what I suddenly knew:

We are seated on the mercy seat with Jesus.  We can extend his mercy, grace, and forgiveness to our fellow humans.  We can exercise his authority over the demonic.  We can calm the storm and move the mountain.  We can heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons.  IT IS FINISHED.

Yesterday morning I believed all these things were true because God’s word says so. But now I know they are true in every cell of my body.  There’s nothing left to wait for.  It’s time for us, if we call ourselves followers of Jesus, do what he told us to do.  He gave us everything we need.  We are seated in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus. As the Father sent Jesus, now Jesus sends us.  We are sent to preach the kingdom of God and to take back all the ground that the enemy has stolen. 

We are simultaneously seated in the heavenly realm with Jesus and walking this earth in physical bodies.  We must do the work of Jesus, to carry out his will and enforce his decrees, because we – believers -- are the only body he has on earth now.  We must preach the gospel.  We must comfort the brokenhearted. We must declare freedom from darkness for those bound by the chains of deception. We must bind every lying spirit of suicide, depression, anxiety, lost identity, and fear.  We must loose the Spirit of love, mercy, and forgiveness.  We have been given the ministry of reconciliation, not just a cessation of hostility, but rather bringing people back into an intimate relationship with the God who created them and has loved them from the beginning of time.

There is much talk these days of the end times.  In Matthew chapters 24 and 25 Jesus talks about the signs of his return, and also what he expects of us in the meantime.  He repeatedly warns us to be ready.  If you knew Jesus was coming next week, what would you do?  If you knew Jesus was coming in a year, what would you do?  It seems many of us, including myself, have been concerned with all sorts of things that won’t matter a bit when Jesus returns.  I am haunted by Luke 18:8: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

The conflict between the kingdom of God and the powers of darkness is not some spectator sport.  There is no point in sitting on the sidelines, cheering for good and decrying evil. That’s not what Jesus meant when he told us to announce the kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons.  We aren’t seated in the heavenlies with him so we can have a better view of the game!

There is a fire in me that wasn’t there yesterday, and I pray it lights you up too.  One of my former instructors says, “Don’t worry about what people will think if you don’t get it exactly right. If you’re on fire for Jesus, they’ll come watch you burn.”  I pray Holy Spirit fire falls on everyone who reads this.  I pray that wisdom, discernment, and above all the incomprehensible love of God fills your hearts and minds.

I’d love you to share in the comments what you would do differently if you knew Jesus was coming on a particular day in the near future, or what it means to you to be seated in the heavenly realms with him. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Greetings dear readers, this is Jeanne.  I want to apologize for not identifying myself in previous posts, and I have a confession.  When Lynn asked me to contribute to her blog, I was really nervous! I feel this is a sacred community and I don’t want to harm it in any way.  I want to be one of the conduits through which the Lord blesses you.  He does have good things for me to give you, if I can keep my flesh out of the way!  With that said, on to today’s post.

A few months ago I heard the song “Thy Will” by Hillary Scott.  It’s a beautiful, haunting, heartbreaking song.  I don’t have permission to quote it here, but if you get a chance to listen to it, please do.  She wrote it after losing a baby to miscarriage.  The most heartbreaking part for me is that she seems to believe that God caused or at least allowed her baby to die, for reasons she might never know.

We all have tragedies in our lives that leave us asking “Why?”  You probably know people who have turned away from God because of a painful event or a prayer he didn’t answer.  If you are like me, you have also gone through times when you weren’t sure you wanted to serve a God who lets bad things happen to good people.  Or perhaps you have believed that he has some unknowable reason, and the painful experiences are part of his plan for you or for them.

Please know that I am not condemning this thought process; trust me, I’ve been there.  It is one of the most insidious lies of the enemy that God controls what happens on this earth.  You may have heard it taught in your church, but it’s still a lie.  God gave dominion – power, authority, jurisdiction -  over a perfect earth, in which there was no death, to human beings made his own image. When they chose to obey the devil instead of God, they handed that authority over to the enemy.  

               The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.  Ps 115:16

Don’t you know that you become a slave to whomever you choose to obey? You can obey sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteousness.  Romans 6:16

Jesus came as a man because that was the only way he could get the earth back from the enemy.  He came to destroy the works of the enemy. To get mankind out from under the yoke of sin, Jesus had to lead a perfect life, never once obeying the enemy instead of God.  What an incredible task!  He did exactly what the Father sent Him to do, and in the end sin and death had no power over him. 

Jesus gave that power and authority over the enemy to his disciples (that would be us.)  He gave the church (us again) power to bind and to loose, and he said the gates of hell will not prevail against us.  What happens on earth is our will, not God’s.  He allows what we allow; he won’t interfere with our free will.  God’s will is that every one of us would choose life, love each other, and spend eternity with him.  But the choice is ours.  Each of us has free will and the choice of how to live and whom to serve, every moment of every day.

Back to the tragedies that fill our lives.  If it wasn’t God’s will that the Scotts lost their baby, why did it happen?  God breathed life into that baby at the moment of conception.  He had a plan for that child’s life.  It was cut short by the thief who comes to kill, steal, and destroy.  The devil and the effects of sin are all around us.  People blame God for what man does or does not do, which is exactly what the devil wants.  The good news is, we have the power and the authority to rebuke the devil, to walk in the power Jesus gave us, and to bring the Kingdom of God to earth.  The bad news is, it won’t happen if we don’t do it.

Today, let me encourage you to search the Scriptures and ask Holy Spirit to show you the authority you have and where he wants you to exercise it.  Our prayers are powerful; our words are powerful; our actions are powerful.  Don’t let the enemy deceive you into believing what you do or say or pray doesn’t matter.  Leave a message in the comments about what He shows you.  Remember, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” (Phil. 4:13)

Jeanne